Pandora Tomorrow
by DXIII
Summary: DrWhoFFVIII Xover. PostGame: What became of the Lunatic Pandora after Adel was killed? More to the point, why has it started moving again? And who is this strange man who calls himself The Doctor? R
1. Prolouge: The First Nightmare

_I first got the idea for this fic while reading Peptuck's "The Gunblade Saga". Final Fantasy VIII is my favourite game of the series, so obviously I would be remiss if I were to NOT pay tribute to this wonderful game. Also, seeing as how Doctor Who will be showing up on UK tv screens later this year (and the fact that I've been wracking my brain trying to think of a plotline for a Doc fic that hasn't already been used several hundred times - "Daleks vs. Cyber-Men" authors, I'm looking at you), I figured, why not throw the two genres together? And thus, "Pandora Tomorrow" was born._

_Any mistakes you may or may not see are my fault, and I'm thereby invoking "creative license". So without further ado, enjoy... _

**Pandora Tomorrow**

**The heavy doors groaned inward the second the brown-haired man placed his hand upon them. As he and his party – the martial artist Zell Dincht, ex-Garden Instructor Quistis Trepe, Galbadia Garden's best sharpshooter Irvine Kinneas, former Trabia Garden student and now _Ragnarok_ pilot Selphie Tilmitt, and the last Sorceress – well, in Squall's time anyway – and former Timber revolutionary Rinoa Heartilly. Taking point, and currently casting an eye over what seemed to be some sort of throne room, was the group's leader: SeeD Commander and gunblade specialist Squall Leonheart.**

**Idly, Squall was wondering what material the door was made from. Metallurgy had never been his strong point, and now he was kicking himself for not having paid attention in those classes years ago.He was pulled out of his reverie by a melodic voice intoning "SeeD...SeeD, SeeD, SeeD! Kurse all SeeDs!" As Squall's eyes swept the room looking for the source of the deceptively soft tones, they continued. "Swarming akross time like lokusts...You disgust me! The world was on the brink of that ever-elusive Time Kompression."**

**At last, the commander's eyes came to rest on the throne – where a heavily tattooed woman wearing some sort of revealing dress sat. _Ultimecia_, thought Squall. As he and the others looked on, she continued her rant. "Your meddling ends here, SeeD! The price for defying me shall be death beyond death. I shall send you all to a dimension beyond your imagination, where I shall rule and you shall be my slaves!" The group's only response was for those that had weapons to draw them, and for Zell to shout something along the lines of "Bring it on, bitch" while cracking his neck and getting into a battle stance.**

**Ultimecia rose from the throne and floated gently down to the ground, several feet away from the young SeeDs. Her feet had not quite touched the ground when Irvine loosed a blast from his Exeter. The sorceress merely raised her hand and scattered the bullets in multiple directions. The Galbadian's shot, however, was all Quistis needed to let fly her chain whip, scoring a direct hit with the attached blade on Ultimecia's cheek. Even as she glared and used some form of telepathy to grab Quistis and throw the Instructor to the ground several meters away, Zell never missed the disappearing scratch. _What the hell! _he thought. Selphie cut in, answering his question while shouting a warning to the others. "She's junctioned! Watch it!" said the smaller SeeD before loosing a Thundaga at the evil sorceress.**

**As Ultimecia turned and deflected the thunder-based magic, Squall leapt in with his Lionheart; the glowing blue blade biting into soft unprotected flesh. Or it would have, had his opponent not back-handed him telepathically sending him, like his former instructor, crashing several meters away. No sooner had her hand fallen than the skies grew dark and flaming chunks of earth began raining down upon Ultimecia with relentless ferocity.**

**A small part of Squall's mind was jarred awake when he fell to the floor. While the rest of his mind focused on the battle at hand and his body rose to make another run at Ultimecia, the newly-awakened part of him thought **_Wait...I've seen this...We won, we beat her...So why am I reliving thi-_

**His trail of thought was cut off as, in the midst of deflecting the Meteors, Ultimecia began sending them _towards_ Squall and his comrades. He watched in horror as first one, then two and three flaming rocks struck Zell in the arm, chest and face. The CQC-trained mercenary went down, his three wounds smoking and his face disintegrating. **_No...this isn't right; Zell didn't die until after Ultimecia junctioned herself with Griever. What the he-no...please no..._

**His horror grew as an enraged Selphie,** **throwing Firagas, Blizzagas, and Thundagas at random, took two chunks of rock to the shoulder and the top of her head respectively. Squall nearly threw up in mingled grief, rage, and horror as Irvine and Quistis went down as well. As Rinoa took her fifth and final Meteor through her torso - this last ripping straight through - and fell, the gunbladier's vision of Hell had been realised. Even as the last of the flaming debris headed his way, all he could do was stand there. **_No...Not like this...It can't end like this...Rinoa...Quistis...Zell...Selphie...Irvine...why? _**As his body was pummeled repeatedly by fiery rock, the only concious thought he could make was **_No...No..._

"_NO!_" Commander Squall Leonheart shot up in bed, panting and sweaty. His mind raced as his eyes opened. _I'm...alive? _He put his head in his hands and gave a dry, relief-filled chuckle. _Get a grip, Leonheart. It was only a dream, for Hyne's sake. You won, you kicked her ass back to...wherever sorceresses go when they die. She's gone..._ "Speaking of sorceresses," he muttered under his breath, and turned his head to his left where **his** sorceress lay peacefully, apparently undisturbed by her bed-mate's sudden arousal. A smile joined the light stubble that had formed on Squall's face in the last few weeks as he thought of all the great memories he and his beloved Rinoa had shared and created.

Quietly as he could he got out of bed and padded over to his dresser. His hand rooted through his shirts as he searched methodically for his prize: a velvet turquiose box. As he opened it and inspected the contents, his smile grew slightly wider as he imagined the shock he would cause tomorrow. Briefly he considered, just as he had done countless nights before this one, just waking her up and handing her the small box. _Oh no you don't. You've got everything planned out already; the last thing you want is to screw up the timing. _The smile on Squall's face never wavered as he replaced the box inside his dresser and crept silently back to bed. _Oh yes...she'll defintely remember tomorrow's events... _And with that thought, Rinoa's Knight put his arm over her slumbering figure and proceeded to close his eyes.


	2. I: Dinner Guests

_Very very very **VERY **sorry about the wait. College and work have been a bitch and three quarters, and I'm in the process of completing FF IX whilst playing VII. So my schedule is seriously...welll...I'll let you decide._

_Oh, and just to let everyone know, I'm planning on having more of those dream sequences like we saw in the last chapter. It's an integral part of the storyline, and will be explained in due time. Squall and co won't be the only ones having the dreams either; I'm planning on writing a dream scene or two for Rose and the Doctor as well._

_DISCLAIMER: The only thing I own is a used PS1 and two controllers that came with it. Oh, and a snazzy lookin' Yamaha PSR-290 keyboard. So there._

**Pandora Tomorrow**

**Chapter I: Dinner Guests**

The bridge - if one could call it that - of the Lunatic Pandora was dark and silent save for the occasional beeping of the consoles used to operate the gargantuan craft, and the glow from said consoles' screens. The constant whirring of the anti-grav drive used for the Pandora's navigation didn't even register this far from the engine room.

A heavily-accented voice, vaguely female-sounding in origin, broke the near-silence. "Range to target?" it inquired. A junior officer (who wore no indication of rank to speak of) never even looked up from his console. "3.5 klicks and closing." The owner of the strange voice smiled, though the motion went unseen. "Prepare for full stop. Raise shields." It was then that the mystery figure chose to emerge from the shadowy recesses of the bridge, revealing himself for those crew members who chose/dared to look.

He had been human, once. By human standards, he'd been quite handsome and charming. Dashing, even. Now, however, was a different tale altogether. His electric blue hair matched the pulsing blue veins on his slightly-scarred face and hands. He still sported the white coat he'd worn in his previous life - not that he considered what he'd had back then as "life" - and the coat, in turn, still sported the red crosses patterned on the sleeves. He had discarded his weapon long ago, however. He had something far more deadly he could use in combat...his _mind_. Only a fully junctioned SeeD could withstand the mental assault he was more than capable of unleashing, and even then said SeeD would have to be highly skilled in magical defense to even dream of holding their ground with a Dark Magi such as he.

He glared malevolently at the person manning the weapons console, and uttered the four words that would spark a chain of events leading to the eventual/ultimate destruction of SeeD and, more importantly, ensure that the nations of this pathetic planet would be at war for a very long time to come.

"Charge the main weapon."

------o0o0o------

_**MEANWHILE**_

**_Earth, January 2nd 2006_**

The debacle with the Sycorax invasion had left the British government in chaos as the BBC _still_ continued to issue reports concerning the "health" of Prime Minister Harriet Jones. The blue-suited man known only as The Doctor watched idly as yet another speculative reporter came on with news that not only had the Tory party found the PM unfit to lead Britain, so too had the Labour party. As the supposedly shocking news of PM Jones' imminent departure from 10 Downing Street played on, the Doctor turned his attention towards the door of Rose Tyler's bedroom and sighed. _Aren't they finished in there yet?_ The Doctor fully understood that Rose would want to spend as much time with her mother as she could before she and the Time Lord left for parts (sometimes literally) unknown, but he was anxious to return to the familiarity of his beloved TARDIS.

_Damned apes are too clingy someti_- The Doctor's train of thought was cut off as Rose's bedroom door opened and two figures emerged. His eyes lit up at the sight of the younger of the two women, and he grinned slightly. Ever since his ninth incarnation had picked up the 21-year-old all those months ago she'd brought... well, _something_ to the TARDIS. Life, perhaps? A spark of needed energy, certainly.

His eyes shifted to regard the other of the two approaching figures. Back when the Doctor had first met Jackie Tyler, he'd thought her a typical human: annoying yet absolutely terrifying. He swore he could still feel the sting of her slap when he (in his ninth body) had brought Rose home a year late by mistake. _And what a mess THAT turned out to be_, he mentally chuckled. Over the next few visits he'd gained a bit more respect for his companion's mother - not that he'd ever admit such a thing. The fact that she was willing to let her daughter fly into danger with someone she barely knew spoke volumes about how much she cared for her child's happiness.

"Right then. You ready?" Rose's voice brought the Doctor out of his reverie. He smiled and rose from the sofa. "Born ready." He turned to Rose's mother, who could barely restrain tears at having her first and only child taken from her yet again._ And I doubt this'll be the last time, either._ "You bring her back safe, Doctor. You hear me? Safe," she said tearfullythen did something she normally wouldn't have. She hugged him.

Shocked, and a little surprised, he hugged her back. "She'll be back before you know it," the Doctor promised. As they let each other go, Jackie wiped her eyes and put on that face he'd seen all those months ago. She cleared her throat and said, "Right. If you're gonna go you may as well go now. I'll tell Mickey you said goodbye." Before she could say anymore the phone rang, and she went to answer it, apparently back to normal again. She waved goodbye and stepped out of the room. The Doctor turned to Rose and nodded towards the door, and they made their way downstairs to where the TARDIS lay waiting.

-----o0o0o-----

**Lunatic Pandora**

**Centra Continent**

A faint green glow emanated from the bottom of the large flying monument-like object. Within moments, that faint glow had turned into a pulsing light that shaped itself into a nearly cone-like beam. The beam then grew to the point where the tip was "buried" beneath the ground and the full width of the beam was covering a small diamond-like structure.

Within the "bridge" of the Pandora, technicians and officers alike were frantically trying to keep a consistent power reading so that the weapon would have it's desired effect. The once-man turned his dull red eyes to the viewport and smiled. _This will be a day to remember. Within seconds we will see the end of this dead land mass; so too will we see the end of SeeD and peace. _He barely looked at the weapons officer as he uttered the one word that would kick off everything he had planned.

"Fire."

-----o0o0o-----

**TARDIS Control Room**

**Somewhere in the Jelthrain System**

The central column of the timeship's control room pulsed and her engines wheezed as Rose and the Doctor scurried about, pulling levers and pressing buttons. "Hold that one down for a few seconds...Now twist that knob and grab this handle-" Rose interrupted with a mock-weary sigh of slight complaint. "Mind telling me where we're going?"

The Doctor grinned at her. "It's a suprise. Trust me, you'll like it. No, not that one, _that_ one!" he replied as he dashed to another side of the hexagonal control panel and pointed to a button just centimetres from the handle Rose had had her hand on. Not for the first time, he shook his head at the junk-pile that made up the controls of his beloved craft. "I've gotta do something about this junk cluttering up my instruments-" He stopped as the TARDIS shuddered violently.

"Easy, old girl. I didn't mean it, I swear." The Time Lord had a hunch that of all his incarnations, his most recent body had been the favorite of the temperamental timeship. It was he (well, his ninth regeneration) who had cobbled this current array together out of spare odds and ends, though not even the Prophet Gohss could figure out why. _Heaven knows he tried-_

The TARDIS shuddered again, this time more violently. As if to add insult to injury, the familiar groaning wheeze of the engines had gone up a few octaves. Rose, picking herself up from the floor for the second time in as many minutes, looked more than a little apprehensive. "Um...Is it _meant _to sound like that?" The Doctor didn't answer right away; instead he hurried to the nearest monitor and paled when he saw the cause of the TARDIS' upsets.

"Someone's blown a hole in the STAR-field!" he cried as the timeship shuddered yet again. Rose staggered beside the Doctor and stared at the screen. "The what field?" The Doctor turned and made a few corrections as he replied. "Space, Time And Reality. STAR" - another violent shaking - "You know about the space-time continuum, right?" Rather than make some half-witted remark about having skipped class that day, Rose simply nodded, and let the Doctor continue. "Basically, they're the set rules that all realities follow to some extent or another. The STAR-field is what separates all realities from one another. Like parallel universes. They're all separated at a certain point, and what this person has done, whoever he is" - another quaking, quite possibly the most violent yet - "is tear open a hole at the weak point separating this reality from its neighboring reality, where none of us can technically exist."

"...So that's bad, right?" Rose asked after a slight pause. The Doctor shook his head. "It gets worse - Hang on!" The high-pitched wheezing had gone into a full-blown siren-like sound during his impromptu lecture, and was now dying down to its regular pulsing groan. The shaking, however, remained and had in fact worsened slightly. This latest jolt threw Rose off her feet and into the nearest wall. As she attempted to clear her head, she swore she could hear a high-pitched whining noise that seemed to emanate from her skull. She blinked and attempted to fight off an inexplicable wave of drowsiness. "Doctor..." she managed weakly, before succumbing to darkness.

-----o0o0o-----

**Pandora**

The massive energy surge from the weapon had actually caused some of the lights in the bridge to dim slightly, and a few of the non-essential consoles had switched off because of it. Outside, a brilliant green flash lit up the landscape, its effect diminished only slightly by the bright sunlight. The creature - no man alive...no _true _man...could have that air of malice that this one possessed, nor the grotesque appearance - smiled as, for a blinding instant, the world went greenish-white.

The flash slowly faded, and where the ruins of Centra once floated now was occupied by nought but a boiling section of ocean. He grinned. _An adequate test_, he thought. _Once word of this "accident" spreads, no-one will dare oppose us... _"Our work is done here. Set a return course for the Pandora Lab," he said aloud.

A junior officer - the "man" could care less what rank this one was - rushed up to him. "Sir," he said breathlessly. "We have an intruder in the lower levels. Readings indicate some sort of..." he hesitated. The trench-coated man did not. "Some sort of what?" he snapped. "Um...a blue box, sir. About ten to fifteen feet in height, six feet acro-"

The crewman never even finished his sentence before gasping in pain and collapsing on the floor, dead. The blue-haired being turned to the nearest console operator. "Inform security that we have a...guest...aboard." The operator saluted and set to his task.

-----o0o0o-----

**TARDIS**

The shaking had stopped only seconds ago, and the Doctor heaved a sigh of relief before realising that not only had the shaking stopped; there was no noise at all coming from the TARDIS. Only the emergency lighting was functioning, and even that barely so. _Never mind. I know this ship like the back of my hand...ah... _"I think we're in trouble," he said lightheartedly.

Silence reigned for a few seconds more before a concerned and slightly panicky voice rang out. "...Rose?" Still hearing no response, he cast his eyes around the control room and spied an unconcious form against the wall by the hallway. The Doctor cursed silently and hurried over to his companion's side. "Rose? Rose, wake up. C'mon." He attemted to shake her, but got no response. "This is a really bad time to be napping, y'know?"

If there was any response, it was drowned out by the loud pounding on the outer door. "Open up! Estharian security! We have you surrounded! Come out, drop whatever weapons you may have, and surrender! Resistance is futile; you will be arrested on charges of trespassing and non-cooperation if you fail to comply!"

The Doctor turned back to Rose's slumbering form. "Again, _really_ bad timing for a nap..."

----------o0o0o0o----------

_Holy molten mothers...six pages...OO;_

_So the TARDIS has landed inside the Pandora...What awaits a certain Time Lord and his companion? Find out in the third chapter of **Final Fantasy VIII: Pandora Tomorrow**._


	3. Interlude I: Dreams Of A Rose

_So much for a quick update. Oh well. But there **is** a good reason for it. Ish. Maybe. Kinda. Probably. Perhaps. You want the reason? Writer's block combined with a veritable assload of that terrible phantom Real Life. And more than a shade of forgetfulness. The block still hammers at me relentlessly, but a crack has appeared that happens to be large enough for this little nugget to escape, at least temporarily. I figure this oughta hold you all until I get the third chapter all written and done and such. A word of warning, it's fairly dark. But then, so's my mind. But that's a story for another time…Moving on!_

_Disclaimer: I live about 30-ish miles from Paisley (which, unless my sources are full of Judoon droppings, is where David Tennant is from originally), but that's as close as I'm gonna get to owning Doctor Who. Although I DO own a second hand copy of Lance Parkin's "The Gallifrey Chronicles". Anywho…_

**Interlude I: Dreams of a Rose**

_ It was the engines that woke her up. Their familiar wheezing pulse that signified that the ship was in flight. Assuming, of course, that one could actually "fly" through time. But either way, they were leaving Satellite 5. None of this actually registered right away, however. What **did **register was that the Doctor and her were inside the TARDIS, heading somewhere. And Captain Jack – that crazy 51st century Time Agent who went for anything with a pulse – was either being really quiet or wasn't with them at all. "What happened?" she asked as she pulled herself up._

_ "Don't you remember?" For a fleeting instant, inexplicable joy coursed through her. It was him! Her Doctor, her first Doctor. Before he'd changed. Maybe he hadn't – what was the term he'd used? regenerated – after all! The joy was followed by an eerie pit-of-the-stomach feeling of recognition. 'I've seen this, it already happened,' she thought. "It's like…there was this singin'…" she said uncertainly._

_ "That's right, I sang a song and the Daleks ran away!" Again, that voiced she loved. That voice she **missed**. 'Why am I going through this again?' she asked herself. 'I don't want to see this again. It's already happened and I can't change it. What's the point of this?' She sat up a bit more and spoke almost involuntarily. "I was at home…no, I wasn't. I was in the TARDIS and…there was this light. I can't remember anything else!"_

_ Through all of this, she'd only glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. Whereas last time she wasn't paying too much attention, this time she noticed that the Doctor was eyeing his hand with something akin to dismay. His expression changed as he turned toward her…almost apologetic for something he had done or was about to do. "Rose Tyler," he grinned. "I was gonna take you to so many places. Barcelona! Not the city Barcelona, the planet Barcelona. You'd love it, fantastic place! They've got dogs with no noses!" He laughed after this last. "Imagine how many times a day you end up telling that joke, and it's **still **funny!"_

_ "Then why can't we go?" she asked. Part of her – the part of her that was going through this for the first time – was genuinely confused. The part of her that had already seen it, on the other hand, was instantly alert. 'I was right. It's not a dream. He's going to be ripped away from me again, he's gonna turn into that new person, that tall…very handsome…dreamy…oh my God, that's it! I'm dreaming!' Even with this realisation, however, she was powerless to prevent what unfolded next._

_ "Maybe you will. Maybe I will. But not like this!" He was grinning differently now, Rose saw. Somewhat like the usual madness she'd associated with the 900-something-year-old Time Lord, but different to the point of it being noticable. "You're not making any sense," she told him._

_ His reply was not what the "first time" part of her expected. "I might never make sense again," he came close to issuing a mad-scientist style cackle, she could see. "I might have two heads, or no head. Imagine me with no head! And don't say that's an improvement. But it's a bit dodgy, this process," he added, sobering up a bit now. "You never know what you're gonna end up with." 'No,' she thought. 'Not agai-'_

_ Without any warning the Doctor hunched over and staggered away from the console in agony. The part of Rose that was paying attention noticed a faint light coming from his midsection and slowly spreading all over him. She stepped forward crying his name, stopping as the Doctor all but yelled for her to stay away. "Doctor, tell me what's going on," she said._

_ A pain-filled smirk greeted her as he looked up. "I absorbed all the energy of the Time Vortex, and no-one's meant to do that." It amazed Rose – the "I've already seen this" Rose - how he could be sarcastic and pseudo-condescending while going through that amount of pain. He grimaced and looked up again, this time wearing a mixed look of fear, pain, and his usual "weight-of-the-universe-on-my-shoulders" look. "Every cell in my body's dying," he started._

_ "Isn't there something you can do?!" Rose exclaimed. The part of her that had just left the near-empty Satellite 5 was in mental hysterics. How would she get home if he died? The Doctor was talking again. "Yeah, I'm doing it now," he was saying. "See, Time Lords have this little trick. It's sort of a way of cheating death. Except," he grimaced again and looked up once more. "It means I'm gonna change. And you're not gonna see me again. Not like this. Not with this daft old face." The grin was back, but only for a second. "And before I go-"_

_ "Don't say that!" The "dreaming" Rose agreed whole-heartedly. Dream – well, nightmare – or not, she really didn't want to see this again. Hearing the Doctor say it (again) was bad enough without…without…_

_ "Rose," The Doctor interrupted her thoughts. "Before I go, I just wanna tell you: you were fantastic," again the grin showed itself. "Absolutely fantastic. And you know what? So was I!" It was now a fully fledged smile, teeth and all. As she watched in fear and confusion, he straightened._

_ Then the light and flames came. Rose forced herself not to look away, even as the brilliant golden light intensified around her guide to the many worlds she'd seen since meeting him. Although she couldn't quite recall the light being quite that bright. Nor could she remember him screaming –_

_ "Doctor!" She cried. "Doctor, what's happening?!" Nothing. No answer save the constant agonised screaming. Rose raised her hand to her eyes as the light grew even brighter, engulfing the Doctor completely. She continued calling out to him, asking him to tell her what was happening, but to no avail._

_ After what seemed like hours (although it was actually less than a minute or so), the light intensified to the point that Rose could no longer see the Doctor. Come to that, she could barely see the TARDIS through the brightness. The Doctor's pained yells were drowned out by a sudden roaring, and as both the brightness and the noise overtook her Rose became aware of two things: first, where the Doctor had once stood was now a small pile of ashes not entirely unlike the remains of the Daleks she had unknowingly disinegrated on the now-derelict and left-behind Sattelite 5. Second was a burning feeling all over her skin, much like what she had experienced with the Time Vortex but much stronger._

_ Looking down, she saw that the feeling of burning was totally justified. Seconds before oblivion claimed her she saw that she was being literally turned to dust and swept away – _

She sat up suddenly, gasping and seemingly ignoring the concerned Time Lord she'd inadvertantly whacked on the chin. The Doctor, holding his injured face with one hand, repositioned himself so that he was sitting beside Rose as she calmed down and regained her breath. "Alright, point taken," he mumbled lightly. "Note to self: don't try to awaken companions suffering from nightmares – "

He was cut off as Rose leapt at him, patting him all over then sighing with obvious relief once she was convinced he was real and not some figment or hallucination. "Oh thank God, you're not dead, I thought you'd died, there was this dream, I…I was…" She broke off, holding the Doctor – her _new _Doctor – and crying softly into his chest.

The Doctor put his arms around Rose and held her to him, feeling her shoulders shake in time with her sobs. "Sshh…easy…it was only a dream…I'm not going to leave you, Rose…I'd never do that…" He continued in this vein until she'd stopped and looked up at him, opening her mouth –

Whatever she was going to say was cut off as the cell door opened and a pair of blue-uniformed guards came in. Simultaneously they trained their rifles onto Rose and the Doctor, motioning for them to stand. "Come," one of them intoned in a deep gravelly snarl. "The General wishes to see you."

-----oOoOo-----

_Ooooo…"The General". Scary…_

_I'm gonna leave it here, methinks. I **could **continue on, but it'd just be pointless dialogue that wouldn't actually move the story anywhere. Besides which, the dialogue in question would be better suited for chapter 4, when Rose and the Doctor meet the mysterious figure shown last chapter._

_Also, since I'm such a nice guy (and because my lack of updates is probably not winning me any fans/favours), I give to thee a teaser for the next chapter – "Romance Interrupted, Or What I Did After Saving Existence":_

Squall rose to his feet, catching the attention of all those at the table nearby. "For the past few months I've been going through something of a change," he began, purposely ignoring Zell's muttered comment of "no shit" or something along those lines. "And while you've all had a hand in it, none of it would have been possible without the presence of a very special person. She's helped me through the aftermath of Time Compression, and she's stood by me even with all my insecurities. She made me see that I had friends, that they were worth fighting for and that they, in turn, would fight for me. This special person helped me to turn my life around, as well as take it into a whole new direction. Since then I've looked at it – and her – with a different perspective." Here, he paused and turned to Rinoa, one hand reaching for her's and the other going for his jacket pocket.

"Rinoa, you've made happier than I've ever been. You kept me sane in the weeks after the fight with Ultimecia, and brought me closer to the people I grew up with. More than that, though, you put up with me even when I constantly gave you nothing but grief. You believed in me every time I didn't, and I'm a better man because of it." His hand left hers as he pulled the other hand out of his pocket and knelt down, revealing what he'd sought seconds earlier: a velvet blue box containing the most expensive ring the Balamb jewellers had to offer. "Will you marry me?"

Amid shocked gasps, cries of "Holy hell!" and "About time, commander!", and the obligatory fainting, Rinoa put her hands to her mouth in shocked admiration. "I…I don't know what to say…" she stammered. "'Yes' might be a good place to start," contributed Selphie, bouncing on her feet in eager anticipation of the Sorceress' answer.

Before the former revolutionary could say anything, however, the intercom sounded its trademark bell followed by the officious tones of the Headmaster's secretary Xu. "Commander Leonhart, report to the Headmaster's office. Commander Leonhart, to the Headmaster's office."

_There you have it. Four paragraphs from the long-overdue third chapter of Pandora Tomorrow. Hopefully it'll be considerably light-hearted and fluffy, though never having done either before it may take a while. But I hope you'll bear with me. 'Till next time, amigos!_


End file.
